Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
The war in the air 1914-1918, published in The Wargamer Magazine issue 12 and later in a box.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Grid Movement
Move pieces between adjacent spaces on a regular grid.
Action Queue
Place actions into an ordered queue that resolves now or on later turns.
Dice Rolling
Roll dice to introduce uncertainty into actions, production, movement, or resolution.
Simultaneous Action Selection
Choose actions secretly or concurrently before revealing them together.
Simulation
Model a real or imagined system through detailed cause-and-effect rules.
Hexagon Grid
Use a hexagonal map where each space connects evenly in six directions.
Read the full game description
The war in the air 1914-1918, published in The Wargamer Magazine issue 12 and later in a box. From the back of the box "Aces High is a simultaneous movement game that puts you in the cockpit, with only your own skill between you and your opponent's triumphant cry of "Flamer!" ". Includes data on 72 different types of aircraft. The data includes information on Speed, flying qualities, armament, ability to absorb punishment, etc. Aces High, although not as detailed as Wings, includes rules for stalls, spins, ropey (unreliable) engines, aircrew quality, spotting, archie (anti-aircraft fire), and more. Aces High even has rules for different types of missions, from photo-reconnaissance to balloon busting to bombing. The number of maneuvers is limited to banks, turns, sideslips, and half-loops. For example, there are no rules for Immelman turns or barrel-rolls, but the Immelman is accomplished just as in real life... a half-roll followed by continuous banking from the inverted position back to the upright position; a barrel roll is accomplished by a combination of banking and altitude changes during otherwise forward-flight. There is an interesting rule for ace pilots where the ace pilot can withhold (i.e. not write a movement plot for) a certain number of movement points. After the non-aces have completed their entire movement plot then the ace's can plot out the rest of their move and therefore react to the less-skilled pilots actions. The number of points the ace can withhold is based on the 'grade' of the pilot with a 'grade 5' pilot unable to withhold any points to a 'grade 1' pilot being able to withhold 3. Game related to Aces High: The American Aces